Johnstone manager Tommy Wright insists skipper Dave Mackay’s late strike in the 2-1 home defeat from Spartak Trvana changes the complexion of the challenge awaiting his team in Slovakia.

But he admits his team will have to up their game to pull off a shock and turn around the tie next week.

He said: “The goal at the end means the tie isn’t over but we have to do a lot better.

"We didn’t even compete in the first half, it wasn’t like us and we made it too easy for them.

“It’s not often we get outworked but we were second to every ball.

"If we’re going to give ourselves a chance the real St Johnstone will have to turn up.“If we play like we did in the first half then we’ll be out.

“We didn’t perform and I was disappointed with the manner of the first half performance.

“We gave away too much possession in bad areas, our decision making was poor and it made the first half a long one.

”On the question of striker Stevie May’s prospects of making the return leg he said: “We’ll know more about Stevie in the next 24-48 hours, it’s too early to say at the moment if he’s going to be back next week.

"Hopefully we will have because any team would miss a player like him.“We missed him because he gets us up the park, but that’s not an excuse because we didn’t perform well.”